My Perception (By Aeskor)

Date:
06-17-2009
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KeyWord:
Aeskor,video game perception,power-leveller,raid part

Summary:
Being a gamer has its ups and downs when it comes to how you're viewed by the people around you. To your gamer friends you might be a mighty power-leveller or ‘that guy who's great at leading the raid party'. Whatever it may be, you will generally find that your gamer friends will understand you and your passion for gaming and embrace it.

Aeskor is a games enthusiast with a strong opinion. He has previously worked as a freelance games journalist writing articles, opinion pieces and reviews for various sites. He's unafraid to write what he thinks about the ever-changing world and culture of gaming, scaring each and every reader with his piercing wit and hopeful entertaining you along the way.

Being a gamer (and I believe every single person read this article will agree) has its ups and downs when it comes to how you're viewed by the people around you. To your gamer friends you might be a mighty power-leveller or ‘that guy who's great at leading the raid party'. Whatever it may be, you will generally find that your gamer friends will understand you and your passion for gaming and embrace it.

The same cannot be said however for people outside of the general ‘gamer' scene. The amount of times I've heard people be called ‘nerds' or even ‘boring' just because of their interest in games is uncountable. The worst offenders are generally either parents or the ‘cool' kids in your area (be that social, at the workplace, school, whatever).
In a lot of cases it is almost impossible to convince your parents that you're not wasting your life on video games. Sure, they can sit in front of the TV all night but if you spend a couple of hours on your favourite MMO that's suddenly a cause of extreme worry.

It shouldn't be this way. Video games are great, respectable and immersive form of entertainment. The industry is huge now and yet the perception of gamers is that we're lonely nerds with no life, passion or ambitions. I would argue that video games fuel our ambitions. There's nothing like a relaxing instance after a long day.

Sure, video games are becoming more and more mainstream now with the introduction of casual gaming (for example the Wii or Popcap games) but we're still viewed as a different breed of people. To non-gamers we're perceived as socially-retarded people with no life skills and an obsession in "stupid games".
Most people when asked what is wrong with games, will simply state, "They're boring!" (Or similarly, "You're boring!")
Would the industry be so large if games were boring? I don't think so.
The response itself tells you a lot about the non-gamer criticising your lifestyle choices. They have different interests and thus are not involved in the gaming scene and have no real experience or understanding of what it entails.
It's all about ego ... When someone tells you that what you do is boring, try to understand that they're simply comparing their life to yours in order to make themselves feel better. They have a superiority complex based on the idea that their lifestyle choice is somehow far better than yours.
Still, this all stems back to the fact that generally us gamers are portrayed as losers, which is, of course, not true.

Do movie fans get criticised when they choose to watch a movie? No, and one reason for this is because the film industry is much more mature than the game industry. Our culture hasn't had time to accept video games as normal (as odd as that sounds).
I truly hope the change of perception will come soon, because we gamers do deserve respect, and we do not deserve ridicule for enjoying a perfectly good passion.

To all the gamers that wear the title proudly, I salute you. There's no reason you shouldn't be proud.